Business partner hires contract killers to murder BSP leader, wife and four kids over property

Bahujan Samaj Party leader Munawwar Hassan, who contested from the Badli assembly constituency in the city’s northwest in 2013, was found dead in a bathroom of his Burari home on Saturday morning. He was shot in the back.

Chaudhary Munawwar Hassan and Sahid Khan ‘Bunty’ were partners in a real estate business for years, dealing in property in outer and north Delhi.

But, Bunty wanted more. The 42-year-old Hassan, a local strongman and a Bahujan Samaj Party leader, owned a number of properties he had allegedly snatched from the owners. Bunty was eyeing those.

The opportunity came when Hassan was arrested on charges of rape in January. The BSP leader, who unsuccessfully contested the 2013 assembly election from Badli, had 12 cases, including that of attempt to murder, property grab and kidnapping, against him.

Bunty used the time to win over the trust of Hassan’s wife and four children.

On April 20, he told Hassan’s wife Ishrat, 40, that there was an emergency for which she and her daughters were needed at their family home in Meerut, police said.

He offered to travel with them. But the three women never made it to the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh town.

Ishrat, 19-year-old Arju and 15-year-old Arshi were shot dead and buried in fields along a highway in Uttar Pradesh. The shooters were hired by Bunty, said police, who are yet to find the bodies.